Bridgeway is one of the worst PACT and behavioral health teams in NJ. For the past 10 years, they have "taken care" of my mom and kept her stagnant and symptomatic with Bipolar "emotional swings" and her delusions regarding her schizoaffective; while her therapists within the PACT team are complicit, they tend to be nicer.
Her bipolar and manic symptoms were "managed" with the same meds she was discharged from multiple psych hospitals from; so they don't "fix" people; instead just collecting their bare minimum Medicaid payments (reminder: they get reimbursed $80-100 for NP, and these people are MDs/PHDs, so like $120 per seeing of any and EACH person). This place is literally a refill dump.
The psychiatrist, Lorna St***y, MD/PHD psychologist, is a painful and dated psychiatrist who believe the symptoms that are residual are limitations of the diseases; which I agree with, but instead of trying to managing any of them, she gives up and signs off refills.
In practice, my mom has been OCD about literally anything and doesn't know about boundaries (ex: repeatedly calling me and my boyfriend WHILE we're driving); when we express these issues to the PACT even when they cause issue, they brush it off and don't take you seriously.
On top of that, when my mom was dealing with potential abuse and sexual material sent to her phone from another person, Lorna just kinda said "ok we should call the police because you're looking through her phone" (mind you, my mom ASKED me multiple times). WHAT REACTION IS THAT?
When I suggested an STD panel just in case so my mom can stay safe, neither Lorna nor the therapist acknowledged it. I don't care who my mom is with, I just want her to be safe; Bridgeway just doesn't want her in the hospital, contributing to her anxiety about not getting care when she needs.
When I asked them to NOT renew her benzodiazpines due to multiple layers of sedation with her Invega LAI and lithium already sedating her to the POINT of 95.6F of a temp, again, they really didn't care; actually, Lorna told the therapist, quote on quote, "I signed off on the refills."
When my mom says daily, "I have anxiety", they RAISE her Klonopin, further driving the sedation, instead of trying a non-benzo option (with her stabilizers; since bipolar + SSRIS = big no-no) like Buspirone and monitoring, they really don't care.
For a PHD and MD psychiatrist, that is a HUGE red flag, just having my mom so sedated she is unable to do actions in the house; and complaining she's so "cold".
Additionally, due to the PACT being a "psychiatric" lock service, she is NOT allowed to go to another provider.
(mind you, you're required to see a psychiatrist and multiple therapists while in PACT, so the psychiatrist collects 80-120+$ each "visit", and the therapists collect 80-100$ each sighting/claim, and you're required to have the therapist there with you to "see the doctor")
If you want to be condemned to a life of psychiatric stagnancy, feel free to go here. I really would recommend this mental health service to people who want to stay stuck. If you are a current patient, advocate for yourself and see how they push back.
Hansen
